A vehicle which has a power storage device (for example, a secondary battery, a capacitor or the like) and travels on a driving force generated from electric power stored in the power storage device has drawn attention as an environment-friendly vehicle. Such vehicle includes for example, an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle and the like. Moreover, there has been proposed a technique for charging the power storage device mounted in those vehicles with a commercial power supply having a high power generation efficiency.
Among hybrid vehicles, some hybrid vehicles have been known as being similar to an electric vehicle, namely as having a vehicular power storage device which can be charged by a power supply external to the vehicle (hereinafter, simply referred to as “external power supply”) (this manner of charging is hereinafter referred to as “external charging”). For example, there has been known a so-called “plug-in hybrid vehicle” which is possible to have the power storage device charged from a general household power supply by connecting a power outlet disposed inside the household and a charging port disposed in the vehicle through a power reception cord. Thereby, it can be expected to improve a fuel efficiency of the hybrid vehicle.
After the charging is completed, the power reception cord is housed in a cord reel or the like. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-244832 (PTL 1) discloses an electric vehicle provided with a retractable cord for charging a battery.